The Broke and the Beautiful: Stone Edition

This week on The Broke and the Beautiful, Sly Stone’s former manager, record producer Jerry Goldstein, put his companies in bankruptcy. Also, the founder of Tully’s Coffee isn’t happy with Patrick Demspey.

Sony Music Entertainment

Sly and The Family Stone

Sly Stone’s ex-manager is hanging on after he put two of his music-production companies in bankruptcy. As Bankruptcy Beat reported, Jerry Goldstein put Even Street Productions Ltd. and Majoken Inc. into Chapter 11 protection to try to stop a creditor from foreclosing on company property. It’s the latest twist in a legal fight between Stone and Goldstein, whose companies, according to court papers, own the trademark to the Sly and The Family Stone family. The companies are at the heart of a $50 million lawsuit, which accuses Goldstein of taking 20 years’ worth of royalties from him. Goldstein has countersued Stone for slander, saying Stone implied that Goldstein was a thief.

Evan Agostini/Associated Press

In this June 28, 2011, photo, actor Patrick Dempsey attends the “Transformers: Dark Of The Moon’” premiere in Times Square in New York.

The founder of the Tully’s Coffee chain isn’t happy with how things have been brewing amid actor Patrick Dempsey’s plan to take over. The Seattle Business Times reported that Tom O’Keefe has been grappling via Twitter with the lawyer for Dempsey, who won an auction to buy the company out of bankruptcy early this year, over why the deal hasn’t fully closed. Dempsey’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, tweeted earlier this week that O’Keefe “needs to find a new obsession.” In March, Demspey said in court papers that the delay is mostly due to work trying to complete a contract with Boeing, where many of Tully’s shops are located.

The man known as “Mr. Las Vegas” is moving out of his fancy Vegas estate. According to the Associated Press, Wayne Newton is downsizing to a smaller property a mile away. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed, but the new place won’t exactly be a ramshackle apartment. “There’s room for all his animals—the peacocks, the horses, and Charlie the penguin,” Newton’s sister-in-law, Tricia McCrone, said of the property. Newton’s estate was put on the market last year after a plan to turn the estate into a museum went sour.

Gus Ruelas/Reuters

Sonja Morgan and her dog Millou arrive at the first Golden Collar Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 13, 2012.

Wayne Newton isn’t the only one looking to downsize. According to Celebuzz (h/t Daily Mail), “Real Housewife of New York City” Sonja Morgan wants to sell off her $7 million house in southern France so she can leave bankruptcy. “I love the St. Tropez house,” she told Celebuzz. “But I’d like to get out of Chapter 11.” Morgan filed for bankruptcy in 2010 with nearly $20 million in debt, blaming her financial issues on a failed movie venture.

About Bankruptcy Beat

From Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review, exclusive coverage of corporate bankruptcies, companies headed for trouble and the latest trends in bankruptcy law, distressed investing and corporate restructuring. Lead writer Pat Fitzgerald and Daily Bankruptcy Review reporters in Washington, New York and Wilmington, Del., provide insight into the big cases, who’s next to fall and what’s making news across the bankruptcy market.